I feel I'm torn between wanting Japan to sack Moriyasu....but understanding that the only way thats happening is if we don't qualify. Ideal would be the good old Halilhodzic way of let him qualify....then when pre-WC results go back give the sack.
Moriyasu said that several players could not be present in the selection due to injuries, this is the case of Yoshida, Mitoma, Furuhashi, Tani and Muroya.
Team is out GK: Kawashima, Schmidt, Gonda DF: Sakai, Nagatomo, Taniguchi, Yamane, Ueda, Itakura, Tomiyasu, Nakayama MF/FW: A. Tanaka, Morita, Endo, Shibasaki, Haraguchi, Ito, Doan, Kubo, Osako, Maeda, Asano, Minamino Surprise Haraguchi over Kamada
Mitoma has a minor injury. Yoshida is reported to be injured since early January. Kamada is in horrible form. But not calling Nakajima or Okugawa is a let down. And by what logic Ueda, A.Tanaka, Shibasaki or Asano are being called? Some of them are my favorites but they are all in horrible form. If Kamada is dropped, they are all deserved to be dropped. Top players from J League's top 4 are all deserved to be called up.
As always, awful convocation by Moriyasu. I can't wait for 2023, when there will be a new manager. I'd be happy to see either Toru Oniki, Postecoglou or Ricardo Rodriguez leading the national team.
(sigh) So typical. I hope it gets the job done. I also hope to see serious "changes" after we secure qualification. I'm not confident the team under this leadership would go far in the WC.
Defence all as expected, not wrong either, even if calling up Ito, the Stuttgart wonderkid might have been good. Ueda has been at the "not really there yet, but might come" stage for so long, he'll never get there. Better look somewhere else for the reserve role for the WC. Then, no Kamada surprising, but he's sort of the odd man out in a way anyway, still would have called him. No Nakajima, not unexpected, but hoped he comes back. But after the 3 years he's had, can't expect to be called back at the first chance.. hopefully next time around. Nakajima on and the whole team looks different. Asano as feared and expected, we're stuck with that waste until Qatar. For me basically anybody would be better. But well... As for Okugawa... don't see the hype, can't call every flavor of the month (ok, I'm pushing for one too, Ito...) don't think I ever saw the guy play but from the numbers looks his first good season, topped by a very good last month. If he continues like that till March, ok call him then (but won't happen). In the meantime I'd rather have Moriyasu try somebody like Morioka, who's been playing at a good level since forever (even if I don't know how well he's been lately) Now let's see what Moriyasu does vs China. Which formation... Does he stick to his idiocy of starting Minamino on the left? Up front or as basically second striker in the middle please. Does he use Kubo as a sub? Or let's him start? Who plays next to Tomiyasu? Kind of worried vs China, should be an easy win but so far IMO Japan has actually played better vs Saudi Arabia (a draw would have been perfectly fine, they weren't outplayed) and Australia than vs the others. Missed Oman 1, the highlights I saw suggested that Japan didn't manage to create chances. Vs China the first half was ok, but then a horrible second half where they showed 0. Vs Vietnam in the end both goals (ok, one disallowed wrongly) came for counter-type attacks too. Oman 2, first half incredibly bad again, over cautious, 95% pass forward, they always chose the 100% safe backwards pass. Moriyasu's game plan... I don't mind defensive football, but that wasn't even that, that was just over cautious nonsense. Plays better vs better teams that come forward themselves, so from that point of view if Japan qualifes for the WC maybe it doesn't look that bad, but the problem is still that Japan seems absolutely unable to creatr a decent amount of chances. Even vs team like Vietnam, relying solely on counter type situations. Complete inability to break down any defence that isn't stretched. Having Ito repeatedly target the defenders legs with his crosses...Good luck if you end up 1-0 behind vs any team at the WC...Playing fast if the opportunity is there is good, but you do need to be able to create chances in another manner too.
Disgraceful selection by &*$# Moriyasu. Treating the JNT like club football, same mistakes every time. Where do you draw the line with recent form? Last month? Last 3 months? Okugawa has been excellent with Arminia Bielefeld this season. Sure, looking at this statistics most of his goals have been scored in the past month but you've never seen him play... It's not like Hiroki Ito and Okugawa are playing in the Jupiler Pro/Eredivisie. They've been excellent playing 90 minutes every week in the Bundesliga FFS. Okugawa could overtake Lewandowski for the remainder of this season and bang in 30 goals... at best Moriyasu will give him 10 minutes off the bench. Yeah sure, it's the business end of the WCQ so can't risk experimenting with new faces... but the sad realisation is Moriyasu could've had excellent depth and competition for the starting XI in 2022 if he ever rewarded good form in the last 24 months. Not even getting started on Ryota Morioka, Yuma Suzuki (when he was banging in goals last season), Yukinari Sugawara, Reo Hatate...
Yeah, don't think I've ever seen him play. But doubt that many here have seen countless full games of him either, so.... at least I admit my ignorance. But if it was for Asano I'm all for calling Okugawa up! And of course not too late for new faces. Too late for a complete revolution or big experiments. The first round of qualification was for that, Moriyasu missed it completely.
Let's see how China will line up. They were dangerous going forward when played Saudi thanks to their Brazilian players. Almost scored the equaliser, but I heard the thing with the money in China is over and Elkeson left Guangzhou because of this. Remains to be seen if the Brazilians will be called
You always say that, " i havent seen him play but he sucks" kind of nonsense. Come on. Moriyasu has shown us what he is good for and its not alot.
Asano got that lucky goal vs Australia so we'll probably be stuck with him for a while now. Recently scored his first Bundesliga goal in years after the other team completely went to sleep.
Actually I don't always say stuff like that. But let's see, how many full games by Okugawa have you seen?
I read a report that Tomiyasu also declined due to injury. Losing Yoshida is manageable, losing both Yoshida and Tomiyasu sounds kind of serious. I'm not sure about China's attitudes for next matches since they are nearly officially out but SA's attacking is no joke.
I would start Nakayama (LB), Itakura (CB), Taniguchi (CB) and Sakai (RB). Taniguchi was decent against Serbia last year. But in reality Moriyasu will start Nagatomo-Itakura-Ueda-Sakai just because Nagatomo and Ueda are more experienced. A back four with Ueda and Nagatomo is a nightmare.
Well, we certainly heard it before. I dont now, maybe 3 or 4? But just look at the statistics. Of course he deserves a chance.